What Is Monsanto Doing In Mexico?

We just received an email from – maybe – Monsanto. Is it for real? Or are the Yes Men up to no good again?

Monsanto Denounces “Activists” For Hoax Release

Aug 14, 2013

Earlier today a fraudulent press release was issued alleging that Monsanto had received a permit to plant 250,000 hectares of GM corn in Northern Mexico. While Monsanto does expect to receive such a permit in the near future, as the first step in more extensive plans, one has not yet been issued.

The release was the work of a group of international students and activists calling themselves “Sin Maíz No Hay Vida” (“Without Corn There Is No Life”). Besides spreading misinformation about the permit, the group’s release falsely announced a digital repository of Mexican customs allegedly endangered by GM corn. They also announced a fictitious Monsanto “vault” to store all the native varieties of corn that GM varieties would supposedly render unviable.

“The action of the group is fundamentally misleading,” said Janet M. Holloway, Chief of Community Relations for Monsanto. “The initiatives they put forth are unfeasible, and their list of demands is peppered with hyperbolic buzzwords like ‘sustainability,’ ‘culture,’ and ‘biodiversity.'”

“Only ecologists prioritize biodiversity over real-world concerns,” said Dr. Robert T. Fraley, who oversees Monsanto’s integrated crop and seed agribusiness technology and research worldwide. “Commercial farmers know that biodiversity means having to battle weeds and insects. That means human labor, and human labor means costs and time that could be spent otherwise.”

“Monsanto is committed to helping commercial farmers transform their land into the most economically sustainable product possible,” said Fraley. “With Monsanto’s GM corn, no longer will nature’s invasive biodiversity diminish the economic returns of our customers.”

“The very name of the activists’ group shows where they’re wrong,” said Holloway. “In many parts of the world, there is no corn, yet life exists everywhere. And in any case, Monsanto is dedicated to increasing available corn supplies.”

Extensive research and experience confirm that transgenic technology is not destructive, but rather judiciously adds new species to an already abundant bioscape. “There is a vast profusion of corn species in Mexico, but most of them have little or no commercial viability,” said Fraley. “We celebrate the cultural and biological heritage of Mexico, but the production of real wealth requires that people be open to new technologies, no matter how significantly they break from the past.”

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About Monsanto Company

Monsanto Company is a leading global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality. Monsanto remains focused on enabling both small-holder and large-scale farmers to produce more from their land while conserving more of our world’s natural resources such as water and energy. To learn more about our business and our commitments, please visit:www.monsanto.com. Follow our business on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MonsantoCo, on the company blog, Beyond the Rows at www.monsantoblog.com, or subscribe to our News Release RSS Feed. “Silvia Schacht de Miranda” and “Lester Cortez” do not exist.

“Commercial farmers know that biodiversity means having to battle weeds
and insects. That means human labor, and human labor means costs and
time that could be spent otherwise.”

“There is a vast profusion of corn species in Mexico, but most of them
have little or no commercial viability,” said Fraley. “We celebrate the
cultural and biological heritage of Mexico, but the production of real wealth requires that people be open to new technologies, no matter how significantly they break from the past.”

Yeah, who cares if Mexico is the cradle of corn, and that investigating the potential of all those diverse indigenous species might offer the potential for new strains which could proof resistant to pests, without having to pump your crops with all the fungicides & pesticides –ALSO produced by Monsanto– that are killing all the bees world-wide! Uniformity is the name of the game, people!

Sheesh, the sheer arrogance they display is annoying.

InfvoCuernos

What’s Monsanto doing in Mexico? The answer is probably the same as it always is when outsiders go into Mexico: up to no good. I like how they pitch the angle that they are providing an alternative to “expensive manual labor” to America’s #1 source of cheap agricultural labor. Its like they’re selling ice to Inuits. Let’s just hope they don’t get any Roundup on the Weed.

Anarchy Pony

It’s been a while since the Yes Men have done anything. Are they even still in operation?

kcorb

The monoculture cheerleading sounds like something out of a Yes Men infiltration.

THEUNSEENofNOTISH

It really sucks when anti-Monsanto fake-hippie activist grad/college student anarchists de-legitimize anti-Monsanto movements by making fake news reports, resorting to corporate business tactics that make it seem like a publicity game not a SAVE THE EARTH FROM BEING PATENTED spiritual necessity. COINTELPRO style action, possibly? Not government, maybe on behalf of Monsanto to discredit real anti-Monsanto? Why else would international students use local language when im sure locals have their own groups.

Diana Davis Rumbold

Only ecologist prioritize biodiversity – yes because they put life before money. Bad ecologists! Bad! Don’t you know that crops that don’t produce seeds that can be planted are good! We wouldn’t want seed manufacturers to lose money. And we certainly don’t want to have more than one kind of corn from one huge corp! And Goddess forbid we do something like come up with safe pesticides like the dried earth from deep in the sea. No, chemicals are good. George Orwell had the wrong date!